this whole proposal to BUY stamps for email is insane

[xfer]

no way. as i liberal i believe in big government making laws to keep people and corporations from screwing over/hurting each other.

unlike my conservative friends who think there should be no public police or firefighter squads, and you have to use your own money to hire private PDs and such.

 

[mindspell]

No, I was referring to how a single company controls a free non-commercial commodity, which is the same as how the Internet works in other respects (such as domain creation). It can be made to work for e-mail just like it has been made to work for domains--with plenty of governmental oversight to keep things fair.

Domain creation? I think you are mistaken. Domain names are under the umbrella of the ICANN which is itself under the umbrella of the IANA, both of which are non-profit organizations and their boards are mainly academics of the computer world from all over the world. From there the organization chooses registrars that are viable business, that will sell domains. There is no single company controlling domain names. There is no government oversight in this either (the last thing you want BTW, because governments usually don't understand the impacts on technology)

Email is a whole different animal if you want to charge for each and everyone of them.

 

[xfer]

I was referring to ICANN--can't a similar system be worked out for e-mail? Non-profit?

 

[mindspell]

It would be very difficult because of the nature of the communication. We are talking about something that would need to be authorized very quickly and use a very fast replication service. All this is fine within an enterprise but the Internet is too slow and too big to do that in a proper fashion. It might be possible in the future but right now it isn't. And I don't want to see big corps included in the decision process. Microsoft MUST stay away...

 

[xfer]

Well, I buy the "it's not physically possible yet" argument, but I never thought this was going to happen tomorrow, anyway. But if that plan's accepted and we put resources into making it possible, maybe in five or ten years we can be spam-free!

And, yeah, MS must indeed stay away.

 

[mindspell]

No way around spam unfortunatly. I have ways to not pay stamps at the post office and have my letters get to the destination. Same thing will happen with email. This is not the solution for spam. Quicker and fierce prosecution is the only way to go....

 

[xfer]

what, like switch your return address and the real address and "forget" to add postage?

 

[mindspell]

among other techniques, you don't want your address on there though...

 

[Space Ghost]

I don't get spam anymore. Maybe Hotmail got good at filtering it out or something?

 

[Firedwarf]

I'm with Alex! I don't see the harm in spending 1/10 of a cent to send a few emails if it'll discourage spamming sites.

 

[capeda]

Is there any way to track the IPs that are responsible for these mass email floodings? You'd think some beligerent geeks would have tracked them down and taken some vigilante action on these jerks years ago.

 

[mindspell]

They spoof their IPs and/or they use the PCs of unsuspecting broadband users and companies as relays. It is not as easy as it sounds.

 

[mindspell]

On the other hand, using your PC as mail relay is quite easy

 

[capeda]

YOU SEEM TO KNOW AN AWFUL LOT ABOUT THIS, MINDSPELL!!

::jots down notes on a small legal pad::!

 

[goatschool]

you're gonna need those 1/10th pennies when we're running out of water and they charge by the swig..

i delete 3-5 spam messages a day. it takes, maximum, 2 seconds. 5 clicks. it takes less energy to delete spam than to pick my nose.

there is absolutely no reason to support this measure. in fact, you are beyond lazy if you do.

 

[goatschool]

anyhow, after his thoughts on his car from a few weeks ago, it's obvious alex is just trolling on this.

 

[xfer]

nick i get like 60-100 spams a day. if you're only deleting 3-5, it either means you're lucky or you're buying stuff from 55-97 of them!

 

[goatschool]

sigh.

 

[mindspell]

nick i get like 60-100 spams a day. if you're only deleting 3-5, it either means you're lucky or you're buying stuff from 55-97 of them!

Dump that email address, get 2 new ones. Use one for all your online purchases and registering purposes (like message boards, downloads that need you to register etc...) and the other one for your friends, family and legitimate communications. You go into your "spam" address every couple of days and delete without restraint because you know that there is nothing worthwhile there.

Easy...

 

[mindspell]

YOU SEEM TO KNOW AN AWFUL LOT ABOUT THIS, MINDSPELL!!

::jots down notes on a small legal pad::!

My job is to keep those guys away. Know what you are fighting against is always a good thing